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Definition of pedestrian - 3 dictionary results

pe⋅des⋅tri⋅an

  [puh-des-tree-uhn]
Use pedestrian in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person who goes or travels on foot; walker.
–adjective
2. going or performed on foot; walking.
3. of or pertaining to walking.
4. lacking in vitality, imagination, distinction, etc.; commonplace; prosaic or dull: a pedestrian commencement speech.
Origin:
1710–20; < L pedestri- (s. of pedester on foot, deriv. of pēs (s. ped-); see pedi-1 ) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pe·des·tri·an   (pə-děs'trē-ən)   
n.  A person traveling on foot; a walker.
adj.  

  1. Of, relating to, or made for pedestrians: a pedestrian bridge.

  2. Going or performed on foot: a pedestrian journey.

  3. Undistinguished; ordinary: pedestrian prose. See Synonyms at dull.


[From Latin pedester, pedestr-, going on foot, from pedes, a pedestrian, from pēs, ped-, foot; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]
pe·des'tri·an·ism n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

pedestrian  (adj.)
1716, "prosaic, dull" (of writing), from L. pedester (gen. pedestris) "plain, prosaic" (sense contrasted with equester "on horseback"), from pedes "one who goes on foot," from pes (gen. pedis) "foot" (see foot). Meaning "going on foot" is first attested 1791 in Eng. (it was also a sense of L. pedester). The noun meaning "walker" is 1793, from the adj.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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